ESCC History

2013-Present

The Edmonton Seniors Coordinating Council (ESCC)
celebrated our 10th anniversary in 2015. In the ten years the ESCC has been
operating we have worked with member agencies and stakeholders to enhance
seniors programs/services and build on existing systems to connect
community-based aging in place supports.

Recent work has focused on:
Seniors
Home Supports Program: ESCC collaborated with seniors organizations and stakeholders
to develop a city-wide six-district model to coordinate home supports referrals
for Edmonton seniors. Seniors organizations that participate in the Seniors
Home Supports Program recruit and screen service providers offering snow
removal, yard help, housekeeping and minor home repair services and provide
referrals to seniors requesting these services.

Enhanced outreach services:
ESCC coordinated efforts to enhance outreach services to isolated and at-risk
seniors. This included development of an Outreach Worker Toolkit which includes
a manual, interview guide and resource list that can be used by outreach
workers. Stronger relationships have also been forged through the collaboration
between outreach workers and other senior serving organizations.

Assisted
transportation: With support from ESCC, organizations that provide assisted
transportation for seniors came together as LIFT Drive Happiness. The partner
organizations engage in joint volunteer recruitment and training, coordinate
communications, and developed consistent practices, common forms, an evaluation
framework and data collection
methods.

Age Friendly Edmonton
The ESCC-initiated Vision for an
Age Friendly Edmonton Action Plan was a long time in the making by the
senior sector along with many stakeholders. It is an ambitious plan that
addresses many of the barriers that get in the way when seniors try to access
services, programs and places. Age Friendly Edmonton working groups have
accomplished a lot since funds became available in 2013. Examples of projects
include:

Streamlined access to information on seniors programs and services in
Edmonton through the Seniors Information Phone Line

The establishment of an innovation fund for
community groups to undertake projects that support seniors.

Needs assessment
to gain an understanding of the experiences of Edmonton’s immigrant seniors in
accessing programs and services and identify promising practices for program/service
delivery (The Age of Wisdom: Giving Voice to Edmonton’s Immigrant Seniors and
Identifying Their Needs).

Coordination of healthy aging information sessions
and phone chats.

Caregiver Navigator Training for health professionals and
people working with caregivers.

Senior’s Transportation Information Hubs which
provide information on transportation options for seniors including driving,
public transit and alternative travel choices.

Workshop and facilitators guide
related to respect for seniors to reduce ageism.

Input into municipal elections
and census reflecting seniors’ needs.

Home for Life™ Through advocacy, education, and technical
leadership, Home for Life™ provides home-owners and builders with a framework
for designing homes that are aesthetically ageless and will remain functional
and accessible while the home-owner
ages.

In addition to our role as a backbone organization in
sector collaboration, ESCC:

Provides members with opportunities to connect with
colleagues, share information on common issues and develop relationships through
conversation cafes, meetings and sector gatherings.

Offers members
opportunities to learn about issues that impact their organizations and the
seniors they serve.

Serves as a communications hub for the Edmonton seniors
sector – connecting member organizations, stakeholders and seniors to useful,
timely and relevant information.

Produces the Recreation and Wellness Directory
for Older Adults which outlines arts, fitness, technology, health and
recreational activities for adults 55+ in Edmonton.

Works diligently to
highlight matters of importance to the seniors sector, represent the sector
when approached by government and stakeholders and serve as effective liaisons
on sector
issues.

2008-2013

The Edmonton Seniors Coordinating Council initiated discussions with
executive directors and board representatives from senior-serving organizations
in 2008 on how to address identified gaps in services and prepare to meet
increasing demand for them due to the pending demographic influx of post-war
baby boom seniors.

Early on in the discussions, it was decided to use the framework of the
World Health Organization’s Global Age-Friendly
Cities Guide as a basis for developing a made-in-Edmonton plan. When the
WHO announced that it wished to establish a Global Network of Age-Friendly
Cities, the City of Edmonton submitted a lot of ESCC's work as part of an application to become a member.

The municipality issued Edmonton’s
Seniors Declaration to signify its intention to focus on the opportunities
aging provides, rather than on the perception that an aging population is a
drain on society’s resources. Edmonton
Seniors: A Portrait was published jointly by ESCC and the City of Edmonton as a reflection of seniors’ concerns and
interests identified in reports and surveys.

The City of Edmonton was accepted as a member of the WHO’s Global
Network of Age-Friendly Cities in December of 2010 and, following ESCC meetings
with stakeholders and seniors, and numerous revisions, a Vision for an Age-Friendly Edmonton Action Plan was published and
distributed in Spring 2011.

The plan identifies goals and actions in
nine strategic areas: community support services; health services;
communication and information; social and recreational participation;
transportation; respect and social inclusion; civic participation, volunteerism
and employment; housing; and outdoor spaces and buildings.

Each action is
accompanied by identification of a lead partner. Lead partners invite and encourage other organizations to get
involved in achieving goals, facilitate and guide the process toward that end,
and determine what, if any, additional resources are required to implement
actions.

City council’s approval of the plan in 2012 energized
ESCC member organizations, plan partners and stakeholders. We believe in the
action plan and the promise it provides to seniors that improvements will be
made to add to their quality of
life.

2004-2008

ESCC took the lead in bringing stakeholders together to plan for improvements to services by holding events such as roundtable discussions, workshops and forums.

The Council established itself as the communication hub for the senior sector by circulating weekly electronic bulletins, establishing its website and databases, publishing a Physical Activity and Recreation Directory for Older Adults, facilitating publication of a Seniors Scene monthly page in the Edmonton Examiner, and issuing other reports and publications.

The ESCC facilitated regular senior sector meetings of board representatives and executive directors, established an Interagency Programmers Committee for the sharing of information in a supportive environment, initiated regular meetings of Interagency Outreach Workers, provided support for an Edmonton Voluntary Drivers Network and facilitated regular meetings of a Yard Help/Snow Shovelling Network.

The Council initiated joint projects such as the production of a promotional DVD for seniors centres and produced other resources, such as fact sheets, cultural cue documents and policy templates, to assist agencies.

The ESCC arranged for educational sessions for workers, such as cultural sensitivity training, and became one of the lead organizations for the Creative Age Festival, first held in 2008 during Seniors' Week.

On October 14, 2005 the government officially recognized ESCC as a society.

2000-2004

The establishment of the Edmonton Seniors Coordinating Council (ESCC) was the major recommendation from the Task Force on Community Services for Seniors’ report Blueprint for Action published in January 2004.

During a previous 10-month consultation process, senior-serving organizations, seniors, and funders recognized the need for a mechanism to support shared planning, coordination and collaboration among service providers for seniors. For most of 2004, members of a newly constituted Edmonton Seniors Coordinating Council Transition Team worked to establish the framework for the Council.

ESCC builds on the work of the Edmonton Seniors Community Network formed in 2000 to encourage information sharing and discussion on issues of common concern. The Council benefits organizations that primarily serve seniors, as well as groups and organizations that serve seniors as part of a larger mandate.

The first ESCC Board of Directors, comprising representatives of 11 regular members and four associate members, was elected in November 2004. Ex-officio board members included representatives from the City of Edmonton , the United Way of the Alberta Capital Region, and Capital Health Authority (Alberta Health Services).

Where we started: The 2004 'Let's Make it Happen' ESCC Blueprint

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